Aug. 27, 2011

17 Duke 3, Wisconsin 2 Cameron Indoor • Durham, N.C.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th  Wisconsin 25 20 25 21 12  Duke 16 25 22 25 15 • Box Score  |  Box Score • Attendance: 3,192  Stats Leaders Wisconsin Duke Graff/Mitchell - 12 Kills Obeime/Robertson - 15 Thomas - 31 Assists Catanach - 55 Gabrielsen - .348 Hit % Robertson - .357 Hickey - 19 Digs McCurdy - 25 Thomas - 2 Blocks Gray - 1 Thomas - 5  Aces Obeime - 5  Stats Comparison WIS DUKE  Kills 59 62  Hitting Pct. .206 .180  Assists 55 57  Service Aces 7 8  Digs 70 58  Total Blocks 11 9  Wisconsin Volleyball Online • Volleyball Blog   |  Badgers on Facebook • @BadgerVBall on Twitter • U.S. Cellular Text Alerts  |  Mobile UW App • InsideBadgerSports.com   |  Photos • Match Notes   |  Quick Facts

• Box Score  |  Box Score

DURHAM, N.C.  -- The Wisconsin volleyball team took No. 17 Duke to five sets in the final match of the Blue Devils Invitational on Saturday night. Although the Badgers rallied to cut Duke's lead to two in the last set, UW lost the match 25-16, 20-25, 25-22, 21-25, 12-15.

Wisconsin falls to 1-2 to start the 2011 season.

Despite the final score, head coach Pete Waite is happy with what he saw in his players against the reigning ACC champions.

"We came back against Duke and really played a solid match and really had them on the ropes in their own place with a tough crowd," he explained. "We beat them in most of the important categories except the final score. We saw a lot of great things out of the teams and at times it was a very young team on the court."

The Badgers hit .206 (59-26-160) as a team during the match, committing five fewer errors than Duke, who hit .180 (62-31-172) overall.

Alexis Mitchell and Crystal Graff led UW with a team-high 12 kills each. Janelle Gabrielsen had 11 of her own, while freshmen Courtney Thomas and Ellen Chapman finished with eight apiece.

Annemarie Hickey was one of three Badgers with double-digit digs, leading UW for the second straight match with 19. Thomas and Gabrielsen recorded double-doubles in the match, finishing with 14 and 12 saves, respectively.

Thomas had four service aces during Wisconsin's 7-0 run at the beginning of the first set. Duke cut the Badgers' lead to two at 12-10 with one of Mitchell's two attack errors, but the preseason All-Big Ten honoree responded with a kill from Gabrielsen and the Badgers never looked back.

The second set was the only set without a tie or lead change, but the Badgers cut Duke's lead to four at 24-20 on a kill by Chapman from Graff.

All but one Badger who saw action on Saturday night played in all five sets.

"Often times we had one senior, one junior and three or four freshmen and one sophomore on the court," said Waite. "Those are great signs that they're starting to mesh well together. The level of play we're starting to see is good."

The Badgers trailed by as many as seven points in the third set before going on an 11-0 run to force extra sets. Graff, Mitchell and Gabrielsen registered kills during that run as five different Blue Devils committed attack errors.

Although Wisconsin outblocked and outdug Duke during the match, the Blue Devils had one more service ace and one less service error than the Badgers, which proved to be the difference in the final two sets.

Duke won the fourth set on a service ace from Jeme Obeime, who led the Blue Devils with five, and used an ace from Nakila Waterfield in the fifth to take the lead for good.

Waite considers this weekend's tournament somewhat of a learning process for his young team.

"We saw some things as far as people being able to solidify some spots (and) just getting the experience. We are starting to figure out who's good in certain situations, who's able to step up at the right time and who's able to follow through with the game plan," he said.

"We learned a lot this weekend."

The Badgers head back to the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area next weekend for the N.C. State Invitational. Wisconsin faces off against Campbell and the host Wolfpack on Friday and North Carolina A&T next Saturday.